


i built a kingdom of your throes

by s_coups



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tokyo Ghoul, Blood and Gore, Bloodplay, Flesh eating, Ghouls, M/M, Minor Character Death, Strangers to Lovers, i would tag it as cannibalism but they're ghouls so i don't think that counts?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 09:30:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14494005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/s_coups/pseuds/s_coups
Summary: in retrospect, junmyeon should’ve reacted to the situation entirely different. instead he finds himself wringing his hands in the doorway of his currently closed coffee shop, staring down at the ghoul who was very clearly bleeding out on his door mat.





	i built a kingdom of your throes

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #: L217  
> Pairing: SuChen (Suho/Chen)  
> Monster(s): Ghouls  
> Rating: E  
> Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Flesh Eating, Minor Character Death, Bloodplay.  
> Word Count: 7k  
> Author's Note: i sincerely apologize for how disgustingly bloody this is (but also, i don't, and i had a lot of fun writing it.) title from the song stillness in woe by purity ring, and written to the my dear melancholy, album by the weeknd

In retrospect, Junmyeon should’ve reacted to the situation entirely different. He should’ve reacted _normally_ , like a regular human being, and called the police the minute he heard a tell-tale knock on his front door, and stupidly opened it.

But he’s not like regular humans, and instead he finds himself wringing his hands in the doorway of his currently closed coffee shop, staring down at the ghoul who was very clearly bleeding out on his door mat.

It’s pouring rain outside, the street lamps shining a dim glow on the asphalt that seems to bounce back through the rain and illuminate the air. Junmyeon can see the way the ghoul’s blood pours, fresh and thick, running watery down the three little concrete stairs as the rain washes it away while it still comes out. It’s definitely a male ghoul, but Junmyeon can’t pinpoint where exactly he’s injured, and despite it seeming like he was unconscious, Junmyeon doesn’t want to take a chance and openly reach out to check for fear of the ghoul snapping to attention and tearing his throat out.

He wrings his hands again, making a noise of panic to himself, and sticks his head back inside to shout, “Yoona!”

A few seconds later said housemaid appears at the bottom of the staircase, wiping her hands on a small towel, still wearing her ridiculous little maid uniform that Junmyeon _insists_ she shouldn’t wear because she looks like something out of a Japanese hentai film. But she does what she wants, because she’s never really been one to listen to Junmyeon- none of the ghouls living here have.

She peers around the door curiously, and scrunches up her nose cutely when she sees the ghoul.

“Who’s this?” She asks, still wiping off her hands carefully. The towel is stained a dark pink, and Junmyeon doesn’t bother asking what she was wiping off.

He gives her a pointed look. “If I knew who he was, do you think I’d just be standing here watching him bleed out?”

Yoona shrugs. “I would.”

Junmyeon makes another noise of panic, this time more annoyed. “Help, please?”

Sighing, Yoona pushes past him to approach the ghoul. With one daintily pointed foot, she gently kicks the ghoul in the side. The ghoul doesn’t move at all.

Junmyeon rubs his forehead. “You don’t have to kick him.”

Yoona raises a brow at him but says nothing, instead gracefully dropping down to inspect the ghoul more closely. After some careful poking and prodding, she raises to her feet.

“He’s not dead,” She announces. “Yet. But he’s losing a lot of blood, and it looks like he was attacked by another ghoul.”

Junmyeon bites his lip nervously, glancing periodically at the deserted streets to make sure no one was around.  “Help me get him inside, please.”

Yoona nods and cracks her neck, easily grabbing hold of the ghoul and hauling him into her arms. She raises to her feet smoothly. With more visibility now that he wasn’t on the ground, Junmyeon can spot a large, open wound across the ghoul’s chest. Blood seeps into his shirt and down his sleeve, dripping morbidly onto the concrete at Yoona’s feet.

Junmyeon steps aside hastily, letting Yoona stride past him, and quickly follows, closing the door behind him.

Behind the bar, Baekhyun peers over at them, wiping a glass mug absentmindedly as he stares at the stranger in Yoona’s arms.

“Who's that?” He calls across to them.

Yoona doesn't even glance at him, instead heading back up the stairs towards the guest rooms.

“I think he’s hurt,” Junmyeon explains to the other ghoul, one hand already on the banister of the stairs. “Watch the door for me, please?”

Baekhyun lets out a petulant huff at the lack of information, but agrees all the same.

When Junmyeon launches himself upstairs, he finds Yoona placing the ghoul in the master bedroom’s (see; Junmyeon’s bedroom.) bathtub. Junmyeon winces just thinking about the scolding he's going to receive from Baekhyun over getting blood on the shiny white porcelain tub.

Yoona rises to her feet, clean maid uniform stained with blood, and heads towards the cabinets for supplies. Junmyeon drops to his knees beside the tub, rolling up his sleeves to his elbows.

The ghoul is breathing shallowly, chest just barely rising and falling. Junmyeon begins pulling at the ghoul’s shirt, unbuttoning it and slowly peeling it off his body. He's too heavy for Junmyeon to lift on his own, and a second later Yoona is at his side again, helping him lift the ghoul’s shoulders so Junmyeon can get his shirt off fully.

Junmyeon tries not to let the worry show in the lines of his face when he can finally see the wound properly. Irene tells him he's too sensitive, and he can't be upset every time a stranger showed up at the cafe hurt or sick. Junmyeon disagrees.

Yoona whistles, startling Junmyeon out of his thoughts. “Someone really did a number on him.”

Junmyeon nods, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth as he begins gently wiping blood from the area around the wound.

He works slowly and carefully. Altogether it takes him about forty-five minutes. Yoona leaves at some point to return to whatever she was cleaning before he called her, and Baekhyun dips in once or twice to check up on him, but other then that he’s left with his own thoughts and the clinical task of patching up this ghoul.

Junmyeon has done this many, many times. Every few weeks a new ghoul will rap on his door, wounded or sick or starving, and he’ll welcome them in with open arms. It’s usually the same routine: they come in, he gives them a place to stay and feeds them, and they leave within a month. Only a handful had ever stayed longer, and even than they’d left once they were healthy enough to go out on their own. There were only four ghouls who lived in his home permanently with him- Yoona, Baekhyun, Irene, and Chanyeol- and they were mostly there because all four of them were too lazy to survive by themselves. And also because what Junmyeon did was extremely dangerous, and he needed people he could trust who could also defend him against aggressive ghouls if needed.

He must’ve fallen asleep, because when he blinks open his eyes his cheek is resting on the cool porcelain of the tub’s edge, one hand pressed under his chin to support its weight.

He almost slips and smacks his head on the tiles when he looks up and finds the ghoul in the bathtub awake, staring directly at him with narrowed, red eyes.

Junmyeon stills, a chill settling in his bones. No matter how often he’s this close to a ghoul when they’re in a feeding state, it’s still just as terrifying as the last.

They stare at each other in silence for a few, tense minutes. The ghoul shifts, eyes flickering to glance down at his chest; at the skin stained pink from blood and the neat, twenty-three stitches Junmyeon had sewn across his wound, set in place with a few strips of medical tape. He looks back up at Junmyeon, brow furrowed, as though he weren’t quite understanding the situation.

“Hello,” Junmyeon finally says, as gently as he can. The ghoul stiffens, but Junmyeon pushes on. “My name is Junmyeon. I found you on my doorstep, and you were really hurt.”

The ghoul just glares at him. He starts to move, and it looks like he’s trying to climb out of the tub. Without thinking, Junmyeon lurches forward, grabbing the ghoul’s wrist to stop him.

“You shouldn’t move, you’ve really lost a lot of-” Junmyeon begins. He’s cut off as the ghoul moves with such speed and precision Junmyeon barely catches it- he simply blinks and suddenly he’s no longer kneeling beside the tub, but instead halfway inside it, body twisted at an awkward angle so the ghoul could cradle Junmyeon’s head in his hands and tilt it to the side, exposing his throat.

Junmyeon feels frozen in place, the ghoul’s large red eyes too close for liking, his sharp teeth sliding out as he leans in close to scent Junmyeon’s neck.

“Ch-” Junmyeon tries, voice cracking as he tries to speak. The ghoul gives him an amused look, and than startles when Junmyeon clears his voice enough to call in a loud voice, “Chanyeol!”

A second later Chanyeol is appearing in the doorway, hair wild like he had been asleep and in only his pajama top and boxers. He skids to a stop on the bathroom tiles, eyes huge, and says dumbly, “Oh, _fuck_.”

Chanyeol can move just as fast, if not faster than the injured ghoul, and within a flash he’s scooping Junmyeon into his arms, pulling him safely away from the ghoul. Junmyeon clings to Chanyeol’s shirt, head reeling from the movement. The ghoul in the tub lets out a noise halfway between a hiss and a growl, moving into a crouching position. Junmyeon doesn’t miss the way the ghoul winces when he moves from his stitches.

Yoona appears beside them as well, eyes red and teeth sliding out. Chanyeol turns to carry Junmyeon away, and Junmyeon hears the ghoul snarling at Yoona, voice fading as Chanyeol takes the stairs two at a time to the cafe downstairs.

Chanyeol drops Junmyeon into a chair, sighing heavily. Junmyeon mumbles out a thanks, voice shaky. Chanyeol drops to his knees so he’s eye-level with him, concern etched into the lines of his face.

“Are you okay?” Chanyeol asks. Baekhyun comes around from behind the bar, looking just as worried.

Junmyeon nods. His hands are trembling minutely, and he reaches out blindly for one of their hands. Baekhyun takes them both in his own, hands smooth and cold and helping Junmyeon feel grounded.

Upstairs, there’s a crashing noise, followed by what sounds like screeching. Junmyeon looks up, following the sound as it seems to travel along the bedroom.

All at once, it stops, an eerie silence settling in the house. Junmyeon shivers, making a note in the back of his mind to thank Baekhyun for comforting him. Chanyeol’s face looks grim, but when Yoona comes downstairs a few minutes later sporting a hefty looking bloody lip and scratches on her arms, none of them even blink.

 

It takes Junmyeon almost a week to make any sort of progress with the new ghoul. He lashed out at anyone that tried to enter the room Yoona had locked him into, and Junmyeon is pretty sure the ghoul had tried with all his might to break the door down and escape. Irene brought him flesh and fresh towels every morning, but he was refusing to eat. None of the others were worried, but Junmyeon definitely was. Dangerous or not, he couldn’t let the ghoul starve himself to death.

Chanyeol and Yoona are out at the moment, and Baekhyun is probably asleep somewhere, Irene downstairs tending the cafe, so Junmyeon takes his chance while he’s alone.

He stands outside the ghouls door, heart pounding in his chest, pound of flesh wrapped in brown paper in his hands. He almost contemplates knocking, before remembering they had locked the door from the outside. Taking a deep breath, he begins sliding the locks out of place. Inside the room, there’s silence.

The door creaks open loudly, Junmyeon wincing to himself and silently thanking all the customers downstairs that distracted Irene from hearing it. He cracks it open just enough for him to slide in, before closing the door gently behind him and locking it from the inside.

The room is a wreck. The sheets are torn to pieces, the curtains shredded from the bottom up, and the bathroom door scratched to the point of splintering. On the floor at Junmyeon’s feet, was a neatly organized stack of flesh, rotting away slowly, and a pile of towels, folded gently by Irene.

He looks up from staring at the flesh to find the ghoul standing in the doorway of the bathroom. He looks sickly, skin dull and grey and face sunken in. The stitches on his chest were red around the edges, crusty with dried blood, like he had been scratching at them trying to pull them out. But this time the ghoul’s eyes were deep brown, a relieving signal to Junmyeon that he had at least calmed down enough to not be in a constant feeding state.

“Hi,” Junmyeon whispers. The wind blows through the window, the shredded curtains fluttering gently. “Do you remember me?”

The ghoul just blinks at him. Junmyeon pushes on, taking a small step forward.

“I’m Junmyeon. I’m the one who patched you up. How are you feeling? Does it still hurt?” Junmyeon gestures to the stitches with the brown papered flesh in his hand. The ghoul’s eyes follow the flesh sharply, but other than that, he stays stock still. “You’re hungry, aren’t you? Please eat something. You won’t be able to heal if you starve yourself.”

The ghoul’s eyes flicker to the door, as though he’s afraid someone else was going to come in and attack him. Junmyeon places the flesh on the floor, raising one hand and putting the other over his heart.

“No one’s going to hurt you,” Junmyeon says with as much conviction as he can, trying to hold eye contact with the other. “Please, just eat something.”

His heart lurches when the ghoul takes a tentative step forward, moving out of the doorway and closer to Junmyeon. The ghoul swallows visibly, and much to Junmyeon’s surprise, says, “Why?”

Junmyeon blinks at him, shocked that he’d actually spoken. His voice was deep and rich, despite being clearly malnourished and exhausted, and it almost sends a shiver down Junmyeon’s spine.

“Why what?” Junmyeon asks carefully.

The ghoul looks down at the flesh at Junmyeon’s feet and back up. “Why are you taking care of me?”

Junmyeon’s pulse skips a beat. Something sour twists in his stomach at the suspicious tone the ghouls voice had, like someone trying to be kind to him was such a foreign idea.

“Because you’re hurt,” Junmyeon whispers. His voice cracks a little, and he clears his throat, slowly getting down to sit cross-legged on the floor. “You need to eat.”

The ghoul watches apprehensively as Junmyeon begins unwrapping the flesh slowly. Blood seeps out the minute he pulls back the paper, but he’s used to this by now. Most people’s stomachs would turn at the sight, but Junmyeon just wipes the blood off on his pants, pushing the flesh forward closer to the ghoul. He looks up at him expectantly, waiting for him to sit down and eat.  

The ghoul does, but not without keeping his eyes on Junmyeon the entire time. He drops into a delicate kneel, staring at Junmyeon as though worried he would pounce (Junmyeon finds that laughable. He was very clearly weaker than the ghoul, as displayed when they had first met, and the ghoul had managed to pin him down despite losing almost all of his body weight in blood.)

Eventually, the ghoul reaches out hesitantly, grabbing the very edge of the paper so he could slide the flesh closer to himself. He leans forward slightly to scent it, and Junmyeon watches with interest as the ghoul’s irises slide like film strips from a deep brown to a vivid red color. Sharp teeth slide out, and with one, final glance at Junmyeon to make sure this wasn’t some sort of trap, he dives into the flesh.

The tearing sound it makes as the ghoul’s teeth rip it apart has the hairs on the back of Junmyeon’s neck raising, and he suppresses a shiver, trying to look as unaffected as possible. He never really sticks around when the ghouls are feeding, but for some reason, he really wants to connect with this one. Really wants him to know he poses no threat.

The ghoul looks up, then. Blood drips down his chin, the red liquid smeared all over his mouth and jaw, and even on the tip of his nose. The sharp contrast of the red against his pale skin is almost pretty. Hypnotized, Junmyeon watches the ghoul lift one of his hands to his mouth and lick the blood off his fingertips, holding Junmyeon’s gaze.

All at once, the ghoul grins, lips pulling back to reveal his sharp, blood stained teeth. His eyes crinkle up just the slightest amount, and Junmyeon’s heart jumps into his throat and back again. Something like butterflies twist in his stomach, and he can’t even blink, so entranced by this ghoul smiling dumbly at him with blood all over himself and hands full of torn apart flesh.

“Junmyeon,” The ghoul whispers abruptly, voice rich and smooth. Junmyeon can’t help the shiver this time, and it doesn’t go unnoticed by the ghoul, who takes another bite out of the flesh, eyes trailing over Junmyeon’s body.

“Jongdae,” The ghoul finally says, a little bit of blood and drool spilling from the corner of his mouth. “My name is Jongdae.”

 

Junmyeon practically sprints downstairs later, once the cafe is closed and everyone has returned home. He falls down the last two steps and lands face first on the wooden floor, too deliriously happy to even feel the pain. Irene and Yoona look up from where they’re sitting at a table, unamused, and Chanyeol laughs stupidly as Baekhyun hurries to help Junmyeon to his feet.

“Jongdae,” Junmyeon says excitedly, gripping Baekhyun’s shoulder for balance. “His name is Jongdae.”

Chanyeol chokes on his own spit, and Irene puts down her espresso cup slowly, raising a brow.

“You talked to him?” She asks, voice tight and clipped.

Junmyeon nods. “He just fed.”

“He’s unstable,” Yoona snaps. “What are you, stupid?”

Junmyeon shrugs, brushing off her sharp tone. “Probably. But you’re missing the point!” He looks to Baekhyun for validation, but the other ghoul looks just as wary as the others. “He accepted the flesh! He told me his name!”

Yoona opens her mouth to speak again, but Chanyeol cuts her off. “How’s his wound looking?” He asks. Yoona glares at him.

Junmyeon pauses, genuinely stumped by the question. He had been so distracted by Jongdae’s face he had barely glanced at the wound.

Irene is quick to catch his hesitation. “Well?” She presses.

Junmyeon sputters, at a loss for words. He can feel heat rising to his cheeks, something that very clearly does not go unnoticed by the others. Chanyeol frowns at him, clearly confused by his reaction.

“He is,” Baekhyun begins, clearing his throat. He still has an arm around Junmyeon’s waist, and he drums his fingers against his waist purposefully. “Very handsome.”

Yoona gives Baekhyun a weird look. “What?”

Baekhyun purses his lips and gives Junmyeon a sideways glance, eyes twinkling. “Jongdae.”

Junmyeon’s cheeks flush even more, if that was possible. Irene is too busy scoffing at Baekhyun to notice the way Junmyeon actively avoids his gaze, staring resolutely at the floor.

 

Jongdae comes out of his room the next day, hesitantly. Junmyeon had purposefully left the ghoul’s bedroom door unlocked so if he wanted to come out, he could without resistance. They weren’t keeping him prisoner here, and if he wanted to leave, he could.

But he doesn’t leave. In fact, the creak of the stairs alerts all four of them on Sunday evening, all of them looking up from their coffee to find Jongdae peering over the banister, eyes darting around the room suspiciously.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Yoona announces in a monotone voice from where she sits in one of the booths with Irene curled up in her lap.

Jongdae gives her a dirty look, but otherwise doesn’t move from his position close to the top of the stairs.

“You can come down,” Baekhyun comments airily behind the bar, polishing glasses to the point of obsession. “We don’t bite.”

“Often,” Chanyeol cackles. Baekhyun groans at the terrible joke. Jongdae stays still on the stairs, eyes falling on Junmyeon where he’s perched in a chair, nursing an espresso in his hands.

“Do you want some coffee?” Junmyeon asks politely, trying not to let his voice waver. That butterfly feeling from yesterday returns to his stomach, multiplying tenfold as Jongdae begins to carefully make his way down the stairs, step by step.

All eyes are on him as Jongdae approaches Junmyeon. It’s clear from the ghoul’s body language that he was wary of everyone else in the room. When he finally reaches the table, he stands before Junmyeon, a little too close, knees almost touching, so that the human has to tilt his head back to look up into Jongdae’s eyes.

“Do you not understand the concept of personal space?” Yoona calls dryly at him. Junmyeon ignores her, too busy lost in the ghoul’s dark brown eyes.

Jongdae tilts his head to the side slightly, gaze traveling over Junmyeon’s face and sliding down to his neck. Self-consciously, Junmyeon reaches up to cover his own throat, chills raising hairs on the back of his neck.

Jongdae wasn’t wearing a shirt, and from this close it was easy for Junmyeon to see the wound. It looked much better than yesterday, the red around the edges mostly faded and the stitches closing the skin nicely. Without a second thought, Junmyeon reaches up to run his fingers over the stitches.

Much to his (and everyone else's) surprise, Jongdae doesn’t startle at all. In fact, he stays perfectly still, looking down to watch Junmyeon trace the line of stitching with his brow furrowed.

“Does it feel better?” Junmyeon asks, now in full nurse mode and too distracted by how the wound was healing to notice the extremely thick tension in the room, or how everyone was watching him like hawks. “I think because you fed it’s healing quicker, but there’s definitely going to be a scar.”

Again, out of pure instinct, he reaches out with his other hand to steady it on Jongdae’s waist. His skin is warm to the touch, a significant improvement over the first night when his skin had felt like ice. This time, Jongdae does jerk, moving quickly away from Junmyeon’s hands, so that when Junmyeon blinks Jongdae is a few feet away, eyes suspicious.

“Coffee,” Baekhyun announces abruptly, drumming his fingers on the bartop. Junmyeon can feel the strange, thick feeling between him and Jongdae break, and he tears his eyes away from the ghoul to look at Baekhyun. “I’ll make Jongdae coffee.”

He’s giving Junmyeon a curious look, and a quick glance at the others shows them giving him the same look. He clears his throat, turning his attention back to his espresso and nodding.

“Yeah, make him coffee,” He agrees, voice fading on the last words. He can feel Yoona and Irene’s gazes burning into the back of his neck, and he shrugs them off, downing the rest of his coffee, and instead raising to his feet to bring the cup to the kitchen sink.

As he exits the room, he vaguely hears Chanyeol say, “Can someone get him a god damn shirt?”

 

Junmyeon finds himself cross-legged on the floor of Jongdae’s bedroom floor, flesh spread out in front of him. Jongdae kneels in front of him as well, looking expectantly at Junmyeon, as though waiting for permission.

“You don’t need to ask me to feed,” Junmyeon whispers. He doesn’t know why he’s being so quiet- maybe because he’s afraid he’ll startle Jongdae again, or maybe because he’s worried one of the others will hear and reprimand him for being alone with Jongdae while he’s feeding again. “I’m sure you’re hungry.”

Jongdae holds his gaze, tongue poking out to lick his lips gently. Junmyeon’s heart flips, and he looks down, at the brown paper that was doing a poor job of keeping the blood from the flesh seep into the floorboards. He hears more than sees Jongdae shift, and the paper crinkles as the other picks up a piece of the flesh to eat.

When he looks up, it’s like the other day when he’d first seen Jongdae feed; eyes red and sharp teeth tearing into the meat, blood dripping down the sides of his chin. It’s like he’s hypnotized, caught in a trance watching Jongdae feed, animalistic and dark. Junmyeon shivers, something thick and heavy curling in his stomach.

It takes him exactly five seconds to realize he was getting turned on. It takes Jongdae three, because the ghoul’s head snaps up just as Junmyeon realizes his jeans feel just the tiniest bit tighter than they did before.

“Oh,” He breathes out, feeling just on the borderline of delirious and completely at a loss of what to say or do. Jongdae was looking right at him, now, irises red and pupils blown out, still halfway through chewing, stiff and frozen in place, and, yeah, that was definitely his cock getting hard at just the sight of the ghoul watching him with bloodlust hunger.

The flesh slides from Jongdae’s hands and his eyes narrow, pinpointing on Junmyeon like a predator cornering it’s prey. With animal like precision, Jongdae drops onto all fours and begins a slow crawl towards him.

Junmyeon feels his heart hammer in his chest, and he scrambles backwards. It’s definitely not panic settling in his chest, more like a much deeper, unfamiliar craving. That’s what makes him feel nervous, and the closer Jongdae gets, the stronger it becomes, until Junmyeon is backed up against the wall, Jongdae practically in his lap.

“I-I don’t-” Junmyeon stutters, voice getting lost in his throat. Jongdae wipes at his own mouth with the back of his hand, though it does nothing to help; instead it smears the blood across his cheek, and Junmyeon almost lets out a whine.

Jongdae leans in closer, so that they’re just a breath apart. Junmyeon can smell the metallic, coppery scent of the blood from here, and something much more unique, softer but still strong enough to cut through the blood. Something inherently Jongdae, if he had to put a name to it.

Jongdae grins, and his sharp teeth are almost enough to shock Junmyeon out of whatever lust-fueled coma his body had induced- almost. But when he meets Jongdae’s gaze the ghoul’s eyes are a glittering red, captivating and drawing Junmyeon in.

It’s Jongdae who makes the first move. Junmyeon can feel his hands sliding over his thighs, undoing the button of his jeans and shoving them down as much as he could. Junmyeon can’t find it in himself to argue, although somewhere in the back of his mind he knows this entire situation was majorly fucked up.

Jongdae palms him through his boxers, and the touch sends tingling sensations up his spine, and his mind blanks entirely. Morals be damned.

Jongdae smirks, looking like he was enjoying the way Junmyeon’s face twisted with pleasure, the way he couldn’t help the throaty groan that slips out when Jongdae shoves his hand past the waistband of his boxers to grip his cock skin-to-skin.

“Wait,” Junmyeon manages to gasp out, heartbeat like a drum in his ears. Jongdae was still too close for him to focus, forehead pressed against his own, blood stained lips just centimeters away. “We shouldn’t-”

Jongdae cuts him off with his mouth pressed against his own, kissing him like he was trying to devour him whole. Junmyeon’s words are lost in a whimper as Jongdae's hand speeds up, his whole body thrumming like a tightwire. That coppery taste of blood is all he can taste, and despite it, he can’t seem to get enough, chasing Jongdae’s lips when the ghoul moves to pull away, desperate for more. Jongdae grins at him, using his thumb to do something to Junmyeon’s cock that has the human whimpering, head falling back to hit the wall with a dull thud, exposing his throat completely.

It’s a stupid move. Even in his hazy high, Junmyeon knows it’s a stupid move. But he really can’t find it in himself to care, and even worse, when he gets a fleeting thought that Jongdae could easily rip his throat out in this position, his cock twitches, and he lets out a noise between a moan and a whine.

Jongdae’s eyes flicker up from where they had been staring at his throat, eyes now completely blown out to the point they were fully black. Junmyeon hiccups, raising his own hand to bite his palm. Jongdae is having none of it, and he quickly knocks Junmyeon’s hand out of the way, instead replacing it with his own free one, sliding two fingers between Junmyeon’s lips with determination.

Junmyeon’s head feels too heavy for his shoulders, stomach coiling tight with impending orgasm. He sucks on Jongdae’s fingers solely to stop himself from making any more embarrassing noises, and this time it’s the ghoul’s turn to groan, a noise that sounds like music to Junmyeon’s ears.

Jongdae leans in, quickly so Junmyeon doesn’t even realize it until the ghoul’s face is pressed into the crook of his neck, just under his ear, inhaling deeply. From that spot, Jongdae can most definitely hear (and feel) Junmyeon’s pulse hammering away, can sense the blood rushing under his skin.

But Jongdae does nothing except inhale, voice ragged and rough with what could only be want when he hisses out, “ _Pretty_.”

The butterflies spring to life in Junmyeon’s stomach, the most inopportune moment for what could only be schoolyard crush feelings to affect him. He tries not to whimper around Jongdae’s fingers, squeezing his eyes shut. He was so close he felt like he was a ticking time bomb.

Jongdae does it again, nuzzling Junmyeon’s throat, voice deep. “Pretty,” He whispers. “So, so pretty.”

The tightwire snaps, and Junmyeon can feel everything rushing through him like a tidal wave. He gasps around Jongdae’s fingers, eyes still screwed shut and face twisting into what was definitely not an attractive expression. His whole body tightens as he comes, and he blindly reaches out, grabbing hold of Jongdae’s arm for something to ground him as the feeling consumes him.

He floats back to reality a few minutes later, to the feeling of Jongdae gently tucking him back into his jeans and buttoning him back up. There’s something else, too, something soft on his jaw, tracing along his cheek and eyelids, and it takes him a moment to realize it’s Jongdae’s lips tracing his skin.

His eyes flicker open, and Jongdae pulls away, eyes a deep brown once again, watching Junmyeon come to with a curious expression. Junmyeon swallows, throat raw as he manages to croak out, “Sorry.”

Jongdae snorts, something Junmyeon wasn’t expecting. The ghoul looks genuinely amused by his apology, and a moment later he’s moving away as though nothing happened, returning instead to the flesh still laid out for him a few feet away.

Junmyeon can’t find it in himself to get up for another fifteen or so minutes, and when he finally does leave, it’s on wobbly legs, Jongdae’s eyes following his every move until he closes the door behind him.

He makes his way downstairs slowly, holding the banister tightly, afraid he would fall without it’s support. He’s only about three steps from the cafe when he hears Baekhyun let out a shrill shriek, and he snaps to attention, not realizing the others were home.

Baekhyun comes running over to him, and Yoona sits in complete shock at one of the tables, face scandalized. Junmyeon feels like he was just caught committing sin and was about to be excommunicated.

“You absolute _slut_ ,” Baekhyun gasps, looking giddy with excitement. “You didn’t.”

“What?” Junmyeon gets out, voice still raw. He winces, avoiding both their gazes. “I’m not… I didn’t-”

Yoona taps her chin, giving him the most disapproving mom look she could summon. “Check the mirror, perv.”

Junmyeon scrambles to the cafe restroom, flicking on the light switch. The eco-friendly light bulbs take a few seconds to light up fully, but even in the dimness he can see his reflection clearly.

Blood is smeared all over chin, lips red with it. There’s even some on his throat, and when he looks more closely, what looks like bloody kiss marks littering his cheeks.

“Fuck!” He shouts for lack of a better response, Baekhyun cackling with glee outside the door, and what sounds like Yoona throwing a wine glass at the ghoul’s head.

 

Junmyeon wakes up in the middle of the night a few days later to persistent knocking on the front door. He stumbles through the dark hallways and down the stairs, mumbling to himself like an old man about the time. He can hear the floorboards creaking upstairs, sounds of the others being awoken by the noise as well (or maybe they were already awake. He’s pretty sure Chanyeol doesn’t sleep ever).

But when he reaches the cafe, he finds the knocking is not coming from the front door. In fact, the front door is wide open, swinging in the night breeze eerily, and the knocking stops entirely the moment his foot touches the last step.

He frowns to himself, heading towards the door to lock it, when the knocking starts up again, this time from behind him.

He whips around, heart jumping out of shock. It’s still too dark for him to really see anything, especially in the corner of the cafe where the knocking was coming from, but he can make out shadows. He can make out a figure sitting at a table, knocking rhythmically on the worn wooden tables. He can make out red, red eyes, trained on him in the dark, watching him.

“Jongdae?” He whispers. He doubts it was one of the others, because he knows if Yoona found out one of them left the door open she’d have their heads.

He closes the door, plunging the room into pitch darkness for a split second before he fumbles against the wall and finds the light switch. The light blinds him for a moment, spots appearing in front of his eyes, and when he blinks them away it’s not Jongdae sitting at the table.

It’s a stranger, a man with short black hair and big red eyes, thick lips pulled back into a smirk that sends chills down Junmyeon’s spine.

But it’s not just the fact that a strange ghoul was sitting in his cafe that terrified him- no, it was the fact that the ghoul’s kagune was out. Spindly and black like vines, two appendages sprout from the ghoul’s back, long and horrifying in themselves. Junmyeon has only ever encountered a handful of ghouls who had the strength to produce their kagune at will (including Irene, who had only ever used it when she met someone else who produced it), and each time he had only ever escaped by the skin of his teeth, and with the help of Irene and the others. Chanyeol had a scar running across his arm as proof from one of those encounters.

The kagune hovers in the air, a little too close for Junmyeon’s liking, despite the ghoul sitting practically across the room. Junmyeon is frozen in fear, back to the wall and cornered.

“So, Jongdae _is_ here,” The ghoul finally says thoughtfully. His voice is smooth and deep, not at all as enticing as Jongdae’s and instead making the hairs on Junmyeon’s arms stand up.

“No,” Junmyeon immediately says, a little too quickly. He winces at his own stupidity, and the ghoul laughs.

“Is he upstairs?” The ghoul continues, ignoring Junmyeon’s denial. “Can you call him for me?”

Junmyeon tries to shake his head, but the kagune moves then, striking forward to wrap around his ankle. He almost falls, letting out a strangled noise as the spikes of it pierce into his flesh.

“Call him,” The ghoul repeats, this time with a more authoritative tone.

Junmyeon’s voice warbles as he nods, calling out, “Jongdae!”

There’s about three seconds of doubt, Junmyeon wondering if Jongdae even heard him, or did and was just ignoring him. But than the stairs creak and Jongdae appears like a dream at the bottom of them, hair disheveled from sleep and sporting Chanyeol’s old clothes that were too big for his smaller frame.

Jongdae sees Junmyeon first, sees the kagune wrapped tightly around his ankle and the blood dribbling down and into a pool at his feet. He follows the kagune along its length, until his gaze lands on the stranger.

Jongdae proceeds to lock up as though in shock, whole body stiffening, eyes sliding over into bright red. Beneath the skin of his face, Junmyeon can see purplish veins forming and raising to the surface.

The ghoul looks delighted, throwing out his arms in a gesture of welcoming. “Jongdae! I thought for sure I’d killed you.”

Jongdae’s eyes dart towards Junmyeon nervously. “No,” He manages to get out through gritted teeth.

“Well, let me see it,” The ghoul says casually. The other limb of his kagune moves breezily across the room, reaching out until it gets to Jongdae and gently lifting the shirt up to his chin, revealing the almost fully healed chest wound. Junmyeon had taken the strips of medical tape off yesterday morning, and the stitches were prime to be taken out within the next 24 hours.

The ghoul clicks his tongue, sounding impressed when he says, “Wow, look at that. Someone stitched you up real nice.”

Jongdae looks at Junmyeon again, and the ghoul catches it immediately, turning his gaze back on the human.

“Him?” The ghoul asks. He tightens the kagune around Junmyeon’s ankle to emphasize his word, and Junmyeon can’t help but cry out, the spikes digging deep into his muscles. The only thing keeping him standing was the wall behind him.

Jongdae lurches forward, waving off the ghoul’s kagune as if it were a mosquito bothering him and not a weapon that could kill him in five seconds flat. “Leave him alone, Kyungsoo.”

“Oh, do you have a crush?” The ghoul, Kyungsoo, asks, voice mocking. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to play with your food?”

His free kagune moves again, this time aimed towards Junmyeon. Jongdae dives for Junmyeon the same time the kagune lunges for him as well- Jongdae is much slower in comparison to the appendage, which strikes directly through Junmyeon’s stomach in less than half a second, twisting inside him and coming out cleanly on the other side.

Things start moving slowly, then. Junmyeon can feel all the spikes inside him, ripping at his organs, and it’s an indescribable feeling. Something he never really thought he’d experience, and now that he was, it feels like a bad nightmare.

Jongdae is beside him, lips moving as though he were saying something to Junmyeon, but the other can’t really understand him, white noise rushing in his ears. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Yoona, and Irene appear at the bottom of the staircase, taking in the scene with horrified expressions.

Junmyeon can see Irene’s kagune sprouting, can hear Chanyeol yelling something that sounds muffled to Junmyeon, like he was in another room and could hear it through the walls. He doesn’t see what does it, but something slices Kyungsoo’s kagune in half, the ghoul wailing loud enough to pierce through the bubble Junmyeon seemed to be in and thrust him back into a reality that was seeped in pain and noise.

He collapses the moment the kagune slips out of him, the pain ricocheting through his body in a numb sensation. He opens his mouth to sob, or maybe say something, but all that comes out is a mouthful of blood, spitting out sickeningly and splattering over Jongdae’s face.

Jongdae kneels beside him, eyes panic stricken and red, grasping desperately at Junmyeon’s wrists. Black spots are appearing in front of Junmyeon’s eyes, chest heaving with the effort of staying alive. Jongdae is pulling his own wrist up to his mouth, and as Junmyeon watches, the ghoul uses one of his sharp teeth to slit open his wrist, blood rising to the surface and bubbling out over pale skin. Junmyeon’s tongue is sticky with his own blood, and he wishes he had the strength to argue when Jongdae holds his own wrist above Junmyeon’s mouth and lets it drip down into Junmyeon’s throat. It slides like honey, thick and foreign, and Junmyeon would gag it up if there wasn’t a hole in his stomach the size of his own fist.

His eyelids flutter close to the tune of Jongdae whispering his name, to the sound of Irene and Yoona’s animalistic snarling, to the sound of what could only be flesh ripping apart and bones splintering.

 

Junmyeon wakes up with a jolt, gasping for breath. His heart races like he just ran a marathon, and when he moves to sit up, a sharp pain in his stomach has him wincing.

He glances down, and feels like he’s having an out of body experience when he finds a neat little circle of stitches on his upper stomach, dried blood staining the skin around it. He stares at it for a long time, flashes of what had happened hitting him intermittently. He should be dead. He should be dead.

He takes in his surroundings for a moment. He’s in his bathroom, in the empty bathtub. Kneeling beside the tub is Jongdae, head rested on the tubs edge, sound asleep. One of his hands is dipped into the tub, resting on Junmyeon’s thigh, and as Junmyeon watches, Jongdae stirs, eyes fluttering beneath their lids.

Jongdae wakes slowly, gracefully, much differently than Junmyeon just had. His eyes are their deep brown color again, warm and rich, and when he spots Junmyeon awake, he looks so relieved Junmyeon feels something heavy drop in his chest.

Jongdae doesn’t say anything. In the mirror of the vanity across from the tub, Junmyeon catches his own reflection, and has to do a double take when he finds himself looking into a pair of red eyes. His own eyes.

“ _Pretty_ ,” Jongdae whispers, voice soft, hand curling around his thigh, and Junmyeon thinks to himself that he has to agree.


End file.
